A Warrior's Path
by The Shadow's Thief
Summary: Lt Erik Kyle was a highly trained Navy SEAL. He was top dog, until one mission went sideways and he faced an entirely new galaxy 165 years in the future. He will have to rely on his strength, skill and resilience to adapt. Getting stationed with a certain Commander will again throw him a curve ball as he becomes an important member of the crew. Liara OC, Shepard(M)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Unexpected Circumstances

Lieutenant Erik Kyle hadn't expected to have the mission take such a turn, but for better or worse, he was in the situation now.

Lt Erik and his squad of 5 SEALs had expected to go on a routine grab-and-go mission, but his mission was anything but routine. The details were a little sketchy, but it wasn't the Lieutenant's place to question. His team was sent to infiltrate and capture a HVT (High Value Target) in the middle of Afghan and bring it back to the Forward Operating Base.

He's done a ton of these types of missions, but he was still nervous, couldn't help it, if you weren't scared at least a little bit, you lost your edge. But as Team Leader it was his responsibility to check on his squad first, so he got up in the Black Hawk to check on everyone.

"You ready to go Chains?" Erik probed.

"Yeah, been aching to get back out there for forever Mansion" Chains replied. Chains was Erik's best friend and Erik was one of the sole few who was there when Petty Officer First Class Michael "Chains" Hampton got his call sign. It came from his very first mission. He was stuck in the middle of this Afghan village street behind a wall with 2 M249 SAWs beside him, his squad mates pinned down across the town buildings by 20 Taliban soldiers. So he did the only thing reasonable, he grabbed both LMGs', mounted them on the wall, and rained hell on those poor SOBs down the street. By the time his squad was out of danger and regrouped, he was out of ammo, the only thing remaining were two long, empty ammo chains.

"How about the rest of you? You all ready to kick ass, take names and regroup at the bar?" Erik asked jokingly. He got a few chuckles, some solemn nods, and 5 hardened warrior's faces looking at him.

"Our mission is simple, get in, grab the HVT, and get to the exfil point, any questions?" Erik said. One hand popped up.

"Yes Sir, what kind of defenses can we expect? And what do we know about this HVT?" Rocker asked.

"The only defenses we know of are just a science lab surrounded by walls and a few sentry towers, as for the HVT, we will know as soon as HQ receives the green light when we enter the lab"

"Two mikes to target Alpha 1 -1" The pilot told Erik.

"Roger that Kilo Actual. Everyone get locked and loaded, we're going in nice and silent"

The Black Hawks swooped in nice and low making little noise as they sped towards the lab. Erik knew that getting in would be easy, but getting out with whoever or whatever this HVT is while the whole base was on alert would be much more difficult.

"Boots hit the ground on my mark. Three. Two. One. MARK!"

Erik and his squad repelled out of the Helicopters with the ease that a lot of practice brought them. Setting up the perimeter, Erik quickly did a head count.

"… four, five, six. Alright, we're about 2 miles from the lab. Rocker, you and Blade stay on my six, I'm taking point; Shrubs, Chains, you're going to bring up the rear. Ready, move" Erik commanded. The SEALs crossed the two miles of desert with ease, until finally the lab was in sight. It was a white, sand-blasted looking building with 16 sentry turrets and brick walls surroundin square mile compound. Aside from the lab, the only other structures were crudely built barracks which many of the soldiers were heading into.

"We got here at nap time, our lucky day" Erik thought. He signaled his team to halt. Quickly surveying the area, he told the men to attach silencers to their M4s. They then slowly made their way to one of the 4 gated walls surrounding the compound, careful to not be seen by the enemy they were trying to avoid. Waiting until his back was turned, the SEALs quietly made their way inside the compound past the sentry. Very quickly and quietly, Alpha Company made their way to the lab, entering the building without making a sound. As soon as the last SEAL entered the lab, Erik's radio came to life.

"Alpha 1-1, Foxtrot Actual, how copy?"

"Good copy Foxtrot, go ahead"

"Alpha 1-1, information on the HVT in now marked as high priority. You're looking for the cargo in the blue crate, it's in the engine room, that's all you need to know Alpha, get it done. Foxtrot out"

Before Erik had anytime to ask what was in the crate, Foxtrot had radio silence. All the SEALs were linked to the same radio frequency, so they all hear HQ's instructions. Erik led the team into the larger room of the lab, only to be astonished by what he saw. The floor was mostly gone, a giant hole going down roughly 10 miles and being about 2 mile across replaced the floors would-be position.

"What the hell could have made this hole?!" Blade exclaimed.

"I don't know but it's our mission to find out" Erik said.

An elevator led from the side of the hole down about 7 miles and stopped at the edge cavern the hole led into. The SEALs slowly made their way down the elevator, anticipating an attack that never came. Finally, the Elevator stopped and let Alpha Company continue on foot. After a couple hundred feet, Alpha Company finally came to a hatch. What the hell was a hatch doing 7 miles underground!? Erik stacked up on the hatch and slowly turned the wheel on the front. He breached the door with ease, his rifle coming up to meet the faces of three Russian scientists. Of course the Russians were involved, why wouldn't they be.

Chains put them all in zip tie handcuffs and sat them against the rock wall. Erik left Shrubs to watch over these new prisoners while he inspected the little science lab set up they had just walked into. There was everything here, chemicals with all elements, test materials as well as the middle of an experiment. The rest of Alpha walked through What Alpha Company saw next stupefied every single one of them. A metallic vessel, humongous in size, stood before the SEALs. It had wings at the tail end that had broken off into the walls of the now known, artificially made cavern. There was only one gun they could see, but this gun made even the most tenacious Destroyer the Navy had to offer look like it was fitted with pop guns.

"Holy crap!"

"What the hell is that thing?"

"I don't know but we have to go in it" Erik said. He led the team down the rest of the three miles to the cavern floor into a pierced section of the hull into the ship. Erik though about how Turian it looked thinking back to his favorite series, _Mass Effect_. Putting games aside, Erik finally entered the ship taking a look around to view his surroundings and prepare for what may have lied next. The emergency lights were on in the ship providing a little vision to the warriors. Erik could either take a left, or a right, not knowing were either one would lead. Eventually, he chose to go left hoping it would lead to the engine room. After about 15 minutes of wandering around, they finally go to what looked like the engine room.

"Alright everyone, spread out, we're looking for a blue crate." Erik said. The engine room was massive, it dwarfed all other engine compartments. The machinery was also so sci-fi looking, lots of glowing lights, a big circular metal ball with blue lights, a soft _wum wum wum_ sound coming from what Erik assumed would be the engine. It was all breathtaking. The floor was covered in crates covered in Russian writing, all of them neatly spaced, some of the tops open, almost like someone was in the middle of examining the contents when Alpha Company busted in.

Erik shivered with discomfort, he felt like something was watching him and his squad. The sooner he could extract this HVT, the sooner he could laugh about this crazy mission with Chains at the bar. Erik moved a few of smaller crates around hoping the Blue crate wasn't too deep in the mess. Suddenly, he heard soft footsteps, like they were coming from a far off distance.

"Let's wrap this up Alpha, we have contacts inbound" Erik commanded. He signaled Rocker to take a defensive position by the forward-most doorway, while he pulled his M4 up to his shoulder. Cautiously, he and the rest of Alpha checked a few more crates.

"I got it!" Chains exclaimed.

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as ever Mansion"

"Blade, help him out with the crate"

"Aye, aye sir"

Blade moved to assist Chains with the blue box, but quickly found that it was almost immovable.

"Sir, it won't move"

"What do you mean it won't move?!" Erik moved to assist his two squad members. Sure enough, the crate wouldn't move. Erik quickly took his rifle and broke the top of the crate revealing what was inside. There was a small grey box and three containers with a blue glow atop straw stuffing.

"Alright; Blade, Chains, you two grab the containers, I'll grab the box". Erik felt that he was running out of time, but he still wanted to find out what this ship was…

"CONTACTS! DEAD AHEAD!" Rocker shouted. All four of the soldiers turned to face the door way as Russian and Afghan troops poured through.

"Damn it, GIVE THEM HELL ALPHA!" The enemy soldiers broke into the room slowly pushing the SEALs back until finally the only choice was to retreat.

"Fall back! Rocker, let's go!" Erik commanded with the intensity and calm that battle brings him. Rocker burst out of his cover headed back to the exit to the cavern. Nearly there, his luck ran out when he was shot in the back. He collapsed on the ground after taking three near his spine, but quickly got up to move near his brothers. How had this enemy known that they were here? They hadn't been detected coming in, what had gone wrong?!

Chains took point as the four seasoned warriors sprinted down the hall to the tear in the ship's hull. Erik brought up the rear emptying two clips into the multiple soldiers that were chasing them; just barely getting into the cavern by the time the full force of the enemy came into view. The three miles leading back to the make-shift science lab that Shrubs was in was brutal, but the hundred soldiers chasing them helped provide ample energy. Chains stopped dead in his tracks as soon as they reached the lab and called out for Erik.

"Mansion! Get up here, now!"

"What is it…" Erik started to say. But he saw exactly why Chains had stopped, in the middle of the floor was Shrubs, throat slit and riddled with bullet holes.

"Damn it, grab his body, all of my team makes it home, ALL of them" Erik said with a hard voice and barely held back tears. Sure he was a hardened spec ops operator, but that didn't mean that he didn't feel every single dead under his command.

"Sir, the enemy is right on our heels!" Blade called out. Erik knew that with this many contacts there was no way all of them would make it unless someone gave the rest time to get to the exfil point. He knew what he had to do.

"We need to go, Team Leader!" Chains declared hastily.

"Chains, you're the Team Leader now, I'll stay back and fight these bastards off to buy you time, now give me one of those containers and get out of here!"

Chains gave Erik a look that gave respect, sorrow, honor and pride to his best friend. Chains knew that this was the very last time that he would see Erik, the very last goodbye.

"Don't think you can escape me that easily, when I finally hit the can, I expect to see you at the bar in heaven, cause you're gonna be paying" Chains choked out.

"I'll hold you to that Michael, now get out of here! Blade, Rocker, it was a damn honor to work with you two" Erik saluted all three of them, and they all returned the salute and went running up to one of the multiple the elevator leading to the surface. Erik set up in a nook in the side of the wall near the hatch, a perfect choke point. He hadn't expected that preparing to die had been so easy, that he felt so at peace, all he could think of was the safety of his team and how many Russians and Afghans he was going to take with him before he died. He waited patiently with his rifle at the ready.

So this was the situation he was in, stuck in a wall, waiting to be killed while his team were going up an elevator to get extracted. He didn't have a lot of time to dwell on it though, because as soon as Alpha Company started up the elevator, the enemy soldiers rushed in. Erik quickly took them down, switching to his 45° iron sights for easier targeting, and as swiftly as they would come through the door, they would be shot full of 5.56 NATO rounds.

Erik had to reload. This let the enemy had a quick advantage while he pulled out a mag from his tactical vest, but this advantage was short lived due to the deadly timing and accuracy Erik possessed. More enemies went down, but they just kept coming, some even using their fallen comrades as meat shields. Erik had to reload again, and things went virtually the same as before, small advantage, more dead enemies, and fewer bullets.

Erik was out of ammo for his M4. So he pulled out his side arm but took time to get it functioning. As soon as he was ready to fire, he looked up to find a fist flying into his face. It connected. Hard. He was knocked to the ground and then thrown out of his little hiding hole by many hands. He was viciously beaten, but not one of them had thought to take his side arm away. All of a sudden the word "остановить" was shouted out, which Erik recognized as "stop" in Russian. A man he assumed was the Commanding Officer walked towards him, lifting him up and shoving him against the wall, giving him a hard punch in the gut and then walking away.

"Do you know how many of my men you have killed just now?" the Russian asked in heavily accented English.

"Don't worry, you'll be joining them in Hell soon" Erik spitted out with as much venom he could put into his voice. His reply was a slap in the face.

"Well I only let girls get rough with me when I know them a little bit better, hehe" Erik said with a bruised and bloody smirk.

"Let's cut to the chase, where are the containers and the gray box!?" the Russian demanded

"Oh, are you talking about this?" Erik reach in his vest and pulled out the canister "Because there is no way you're going to get this" and with that he dropped the canister, and pulled out his colt M1911.

"NO, YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DO…!" The Russian screamed too late.

And with that Erik placed on one bullet in the canister and was immediately blinded with a flash and felt an extreme chill settle into his soul.


	2. Chapter 2:Excitatio

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone, from now on, I will be updating regularly every Saturday with a couple biweekly updates if I get lucky.**

Chapter 2: Excitatio

_"Go Erik, GO"_

_ "Not a chance, Michael, I'm getting your ass out of here, even if it kills me"_

_ "Damn it Erik. Fine, carry me so I can give covering fire to you"_

_ With that, Erik picked Michael up and put him facing towards the enemy. The M416 that Chains was carrying rang shots out at their assailants. _

_ "Stay with me Chains, we're almost to the Humvee"_

_ "I'm gonna make these bastards pay for shooting my legs full of holes" Chains bellowed with rage._

_ Erik finally arrived at the Humvee, just in time to get the corpsman to stop the bleeding. The vehicle sped off to get to the closest base. Michael was still losing blood, fast._

_ "Well geez Chains, don't bleed all over the nice Marine's vehicle"_

_ "When we get to a decent port, you're buying me the biggest pint of beer there is"_

_ "Why's that?"_

_ "Cause I only got shot because I was trying to save your sorry ass"_

_ "Alright, that's fair" Erik agreed reluctantly._

Slowly, Erik was staring to be roused from his sleep. He had to take a guess and say that he had been in his slumber for quite some time, but couldn't be certain until he could find the time and date. But now he coveted after one thing alone, and thankfully his wish was granted. Warmth! Sweet warmth. Its touch had not been felt for quite some time. Erik wondered who his savior would be, but was equally as cautious as his savior could also very well be his destroyer.

"Sir, neurological readings are coming online, I think he will be waking up soon" an unfamiliar voice stated.

"Good, keep me posted" This time it was a deep, scruffy voice, one that had seen many years of war.

"Aye, Sir"

Erik heard the click of a door, signaling the older man leaving the room. From where it sounded like, he was in a small square room, with only one other person occupying it besides himself. It was now or never. He gripped the familiar hilt of his M1911_. Looks like they didn't take that away from me, _Erik thought to himself. Quick as lightning, Erik bolted straight up, bringing the pistol to eye level, arms straight out, aimed down the sights at a very surprised scientist.

"Where the hell am I?! Why am I here?! And give me a good reason to not blow your head off? Speak quickly, I'm not a very patient man!" Erik shouted out.

"What the… I don't… please don't shoot me" The doctor whimpered out.

"Cut the bullshit, and answer my questions!" Erik screamed with his commanding voice.

He heard the door open, and both he and the doctor turned to see who the unfortunate soul coming through the door was. Erik only saw the gun that the guard had though and quickly put one of his .45 Caliber rounds through an un-vital part of the man's thigh. The guard yelped in pain and fell to the ground, cradling his leg. _That shot is sure to have been heard, I need to get out of here, _he thought. Too late. A red light suddenly flashed in the room, alerting personnel of the emergency of the situation.

Erik got off of the metal slab that he had been laying on, and stuttered when his legs refused to hold his weight for a second. Even after all the sleep he had gotten, his ruthless beating was still fresh, and they had done a number on the poor SEAL's body. Erik quickly recovered and headed towards the doctor.

"Please don't hurt me" he whispered loudly.

"Shut up and do as I say!" Erik commanded. He grabbed the doctor and put him in a choke hold, putting the hand with the gun up against his head. "You're going to get me out of this room and to your Commanding Officer, NOW!"

"Ok, ok, through this door and down the hall" The doctor instructed. They both headed towards the door. Erik swiftly put his boot into the face of the downed guard, knocking him out cold. The door slid open and the duo headed out to the hall. They headed to the left and continued down the long corridor for a good five minutes. Everything was new; Erik didn't recognize any of this type of architecture, how long had he been out?

"Freeze right there!" a soldier demanded. Six more soldiers quickly appeared right behind the first. They had planted an ambush for him at the cross of two corridors. Smart. But he still had a gun to the doctor's head, his leverage was still intact. One took a shot at him and hit him in the thigh. The round had disintegrated on contact but just about broke his femur. _Holy shit, what the hell did he just shoot me with?_ Erik moved his pistol to aim at the man who had just shot him and pulled the trigger. The bullet sped towards the soldier, but at the very last second, crunched and bounced off what looked like a force field a few centimeters from the man's left eye.

Erik knew that he could never win with these odds, so he lifted his M1911 in the air and took his finger of the trigger. He then released the doctor very slowly and knelt down to the ground, putting the pistol in front of him, then taking his hands and putting them behind his head. _There's no way to kill these guys with a gun, let's hope hand-to-hand works better. _All six men rushed towards Erik. Three of them dropped their guns to their side, dropping their guard as well. Erik took quick advantage of this; he jumped up and threw his fist into the first man's jaw, breaking it instantly. He then jammed his elbow back into the sternum of the second man, and following that up with a knee to the man's bent over face. The fourth and fifth man both dropped their weapons to join the fight.

Erik dropped to the ground as the third man's fist came at him. He took this advantage to ram his fist into the soldier's stomach and solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him. Erik jumped up shoving his elbow into the fifth man's jaw, making the man stumble back. He then grabbed the fourth man and rammed both his and the fifth man's heads together, knocking them out. He grabbed one of the guns that was on one of the soldier's hilt and threw it at soldier number six, distracting him long enough for Erik to close the distance. Erik shoved the gun out of the way, it discharged on the way up, but that didn't faze Erik. He took the gun, ripped it out of the soldier's hands, and slammed it into the man's face making him drop to the floor in pain.

Remembering that the third man was still conscious, Erik kicked the back of the man's legs and dropped him to the ground. Raising his fist up, he suddenly heard one word.

"STOP!" the voice was the same as the old one he had heard in his room. Erik turned to face the voice, sliding his spec ops issued KA-BAR out of its sheathe on his tactical vest, putting the cold steel to the fallen soldier's throat.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you son." The man said calmly, as 7 heavily armed men appeared at his sides. "Now you just put down that knife and we'll settle this like grown men."

"I want to talk to your CO, NOW" Erik stated firmly.

"Speaking; drop the knife son." Erik kept the knife at the soldier's throat, he didn't trust these people. Suddenly, the CO nodded his head once, and almost immediately, Erik felt something sharp thrust into his neck, and release fluid into his blood stream. His grip on the knife loosed and a drowsy sleep beckoned him into its sweet grasp. An arm caught him and lightly put him to the ground, his last sight was Commanding Officer walking up to him and telling him everything would be fine.

Light was thrust into Erik's eyes; it harshly blinded him momentarily, making him unable to get his bearing. He tried to raise his hands to get the light out of his face, but found that both his hands and chest were strapped down to the steel chair he was sitting in. His sight finally focused and he saw a steel table and the CO in front of him. Erik was prepared mentally and physically for the torture he was sure he was about to get.

"At ease soldier, I'm not here to hurt you; I just want to ask you some questions"

"American, about 60 years old, military; what branch are you in?" Erik probed.

"We'll get to that, right now just know that I'm on your side" he replied. Erik eased up a little bit, but was still cautious about the man in front of him. "Alright, first things first, what is your name?"

For some reason, Erik felt that he already knew everything about him, but he was genuinely concerned about the entire situation. "Lt Erik "Mansion" Kyle, United States Navy SEALs, Team 6, 1st squad, Squad Leader"

"Ok, what is the year?"

"2013". The CO faltered a little bit, but quickly caught himself.

"Age and Family?"

"26, and none, never married"

"What was your last memory?" Erik explained the mission to the man.

"Well son, you've been to hell and back, and then asked for seconds. I'm sorry to tell you this, but the world you knew is gone"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Erik asked urgently.

"The current date is 2182 AD"

"WHAT!? HOW THE HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE!?"

"Our long range scanners found a solid chunk of Element Zero flouting around at the edge of our solar system. We recovered it and found you inside of it. We got you back here on earth for further examination, and got you out of the eezo for tests. Our estimates were off on you, we thought you were just in a permanent coma, but just like that you woke up. Your wounds are still as fresh as the day you got them." The man handed Erik a mirror to look himself over.

Erik's dirty blonde hair was matted with blood. His face had been cleaned off revealing his handsome face and the scar from his left eyebrow down to the bottom of his eyelid. His deep blue eyes were intense as he looked himself over. The purple bruises everywhere on his body relive how he got all of them. He looked over his arms and found all the cuts along his forearms still fresh and starting to scab over.

"Holy shit" it was all Erik could say.

"I know this is a lot to ta-"

"What happened to my team? And what happened to Chains!?" Erik demanded.

"Your team made it out; here is the mission report and all the data on all of your team"

Erik greedily grabbed the glass pad that the man handed over and looked over the mission report. The mission was a success, one casualty, Shrubs. He was listed MIA. _Not missing in action, frozen in action,_ he thought. Chains went on to receive a Navy Distinguished Service Medal and a Purple Heart while he was shot getting everyone out of the facility. Shrubs was brought home and given a proper burial. Blade when on 5 more missions before being Killed in Action while his team mates got out of the area. Rocker, retired and lived in peace and luxury, living to the ripe old age of 90.

Chain took a pair of Erik's other dog tags and wore them along with his own as he went on countless more missions and became one of them most famous Navy SEALs in all of history. He was killed at age 56 when he ran into a burning Navy command center and pulled all the men out. He died as he lived: a hero.

Lt Erik Kyle was awarded the Medal of Honor for the heroism presented during Operation Crater. His mother and father were given his medals, uniforms, and a flag to for their fallen son.

Erik felt tears unexpectedly run down his face. His world had ended, and he had just read about it. There was only one thing he needed to ask.

"What is your name?"

"Admiral Steven Hackett"

Erik was given an apartment on the base about 50 stories up and given an Alliance uniform to wear while his Multi-Cam was being cleaned. _Holy shit, this is really it! This is Mass Effect, Bioware was right. _These thoughts rid him of all the mystery he had been trapped in, he knew more about everything in this galaxy than all of the Council. But he couldn't let anybody know what he knew; the galaxy would forever be changed if he just alerted everyone to the terrible truth. He needed to tell someone, carrying the burden of the knowledge of the fate of the entire galaxy is heavy stuff. There was only one man he could trust. Deep in thought, Erik didn't even hear the door open and close.

"Are you just gonna look out that window forever?" He turned around to find Hackett smiling at him. Erik quickly snapped to attention and saluted.

"Good Morning, Sir" Hackett returned the salute and shook his hand.

"How are you adjusting Erik?

"Fine, still a little bit of shock from everything but I'm dealing with it"

"Well good, I came by to tell you that your US Military record was found and transferred over to the Alliance, I'd like to welcome you to the Alliance Lieutenant Kyle"

"Thank you Sir, it's an honor"

"On another note, by the training you've received as a SEAL, and by the way you single handedly took out 6 highly trained soldiers, I'm recommending you to the N7 program"

"You want me to be an N7?"

"Yes, how do you know about them?"

"There is something I need to explain to you"

"Well by all means spit it out"

"Sir, you might want to sit for this"

Erik carefully explained every single thing that he knew about this universe. He detailed Shepard's role in the future to come and the dangers that they would face in just three years. Erik recounted every single event that happened throughout the three games.

"Bullshit" Hackett said with a concerned smile.

"All true Sir, I just woke up from being frozen in Eezo a week ago, I've had no contact with anyone other than you since I've woken up. How else would I know all of this?"

"I believe you son, but damn, you're telling me that a race of sentient machines will obliterate all life in about 4 years?"

"Yes Sir"

"Well, I've got no doubt that IF this all plays out how you've said, we all will need you and John in the days to come"

"Sir, one more thing, you can't tell anybody about this"

"And why not?"

"The damage that could be done by changing anything that happens with Shepard's missions could crucially change the future ahead, I'm not saying YOU can prepare now for it, but you can't make it a noticeable change"

"Alright, Lieutenant, you've given me a lot to think about, the transport to N7 training will be leaving in a couple of days and you've got a choice to make, I just hope it's the right one"

And with that, Hackett left Erik to be pulled back into his thoughts.

_4 days later_

The UT-47 Kodiak descended from the sky. Erik shifted slightly, unsure what N7 training would be like. _Well if it's anything like SEAL training, this is going to be just peachy,_ he thought drearily. He heard his name being called from the list and quickly shouted that he was present.

"Kyle, get over here!" the instructor yelled.

"Yes Sir" Erik ran towards the instructor and stopped right in front of him.

"Lt Erik Kyle reporting in Sir"

"You've got someone here to see you" he said. Suddenly Admiral Hackett walked out from the shuttle with case in his hand.

"Lieutenant, I forgot to tell you, the boys in the lab made you a commissioning present, but you have to promise me one thing."

"Anything Sir"

"You can't open it until you've completed your training, I'm giving it to the instructor here to keep it safe for the time being, don't forget about it"

"I won't and thank you Hackett, thank you for everything"

"I expect one hell of a soldier from you now son, make me proud"

"Aye aye Sir"

The instructor butted in and yelled, "Everyone on the shuttle, your thirteen weeks in hell start now"

And with that, Erik left to train to be the best of the best, _again._

Erik yelled in pain and exhaustion as he threw himself over the fifteen foot wall with his 300lb backpack. He was 10 weeks into training and had been distinguished as one of the top dogs in the entire program. Being top dog got you certain _privileges,_ such as working the hardest, carrying extra than everybody else, and being picked on by all the other trainees. He'd already been through Jump Zero training, life aboard a space vessel, hand-to-hand combat (which he excelled at), weapons training, and the countless exercises that came at the will of the instructors. The training was everything that he had faced in the brutality of SEAL training and then some. The drills were more intense and a bigger tougher load was put on his body's ability to operate. Erik eagerly waited for the last two weeks of training, because they had the two most exciting activities. Week 12 held live fire training with the hard suits and also the fighting ring that would pit all the recruits against each other in a bracket the instructors made up. Week 13 was simple, use all the training that you've been given to survive a week on one of the 4 environments, water, desert, forest, or island, which had been picked out.

Erik ran as fast as he could to get to the next wall and throw himself over it. This was his punishment he had to rush through this drill to earn himself dinner. Another recruit, Chris, had thought Erik a wimp tonight and told Erik that he could had actually seen combat and therefore _he_ was top dog, not Erik.

"Besides Erik, I'm sure you haven't done anything exciting in your life, when were you born anyway, probably when the USA was still up right?" Chris taunted, he loved calling Erik old.

"Actually yes, I was"

"What?" Chris asked unsurely.

"When were you born Erik?" another recruit asked excitedly.

"I was born on September 24th, 1987"

"How is that possible? You're lying" Chris stated arrogantly.

"My name is Lieutenant Erik "Mansion" Kyle, United States Navy SEALs, Retired. So I suggest that you shut up while you're ahead Chris". Chris immediately threw a sucker punch hitting Erik in the jaw. His second punch was aimed at Erik's nose, but he caught Chris' fist in the air and flipped him on his back and had an arm pushed up against his neck.

"Just leave me be Chris, you are going to learn some humility, and aren't going to be an ass any longer, got it" Erik's stare was intense as he looked into Chris' eyes.

"Got it" Chris said with some difficulty.

"Good" Erik took his arm off of Chris, got up and offered his hand to Chris. Chris took it and Erik hauled him to his feet. Suddenly, the instructors burst in and took Erik and Chris away to go do more exercise during the night.

_You just can keep yourself out of trouble can you Kyle. _ Erik got no sleep that night and just wished that he could get to graduation.

_2 weeks later_

Graduation day. It had been thirteen weeks in the making but he finally made it to N7 training, it felt much like his SEAL graduation and he was filled with pride the entire day. Every single one of the other recruits that suffered through with him was considered his brothers now. Five recruits had died during the course of the training and they were honored during the ceremony. One by one, every soldier walked up on the stage and was given a certificate that stated their new designation and were saluted for the making it the end.

A formal dinner was held afterwards with all the loved ones that had come for the ceremony. Most of his brothers had girlfriends on their arms, laughing and enjoying the company of each other. He couldn't help it but he was jealous of them; he had never had a girl of his own, he always had to move around before any real relationships were formed. _When will I get a girl to call my own? _He thought miserably. He immediately got out of his stupor when he saw Adm Hackett walking towards him. Erik went to attention and saluted the officer.

"Good Evening Sir" Hackett returned the salute and shook Erik's hand.

"Can I steal you away from here for a second, Lieutenant?"

"Absolutely Sir" Hackett Lead Erik to the range that was set up on base and went to the back wall, taking a key from his pocket and putting it into one of the lockers. He reached in and grabbed the case that had been his commissioning/ graduation present.

"Remember this?"

"That I do; do I finally get to open it" Erik probed with curiosity.

"Yes, here's the key". Hackett handed him the key to the case and Erik greedily opened the case to find what loot waited inside. It was the M1911 that Erik had been holding when he was frozen in the eezo.

"It has been modified to work almost exactly like the M-6 Carnifex that you've been training with, but had the outside look of the old Colt that we found you with. Go ahead and check it out" Erik shot the familiar pistol at the dummies that were set up and switched thermal clips 3 times during the process.

"Thank you Sir, this is the best thing you could have done for me" Erik said sincerely.

"Well it doesn't stop there, we also came up with a camo pattern for your hard suit taking it after your Multi-cam uniform, you can apply it anytime you want" Hackett said with a smile.

"Thank you for everything, I think you're the best Admiral I've ever had the privilege to know"

"I've also got the ship you're being assigned to right here. Open it tonight though, enjoy the party right now"

"Yes Sir" Erik smiled and walked back to the dinner and chatted the night away with all his friends.

Later that night, Erik arrived back at his new room on base and laid down the envelope that Hackett handed him earlier on the bed. He undressed and put his uniform away, went to take a shower and put on pajama pants as he was about to go to bed. After getting ready to sleep, he finally went to his bed and opened the envelope. And read the contents

Lt Erik Kyle,

You have been called to serve about the Systems Alliance Space Vehicle Normandy Stealth Reconnaissance-1 as a Special Forces Operator. You are to report for duty 3 days from now on December the 30th 2182 to Captain David Anderson.

Fair Winds and Following Seas,

Steven Hackett, Adm, Systems Alliance


End file.
